Jaden Springer was easy to overlook as a rookie. He vows to be impossible to ignore this Sixers season.

Springer’s journey in the NBA has been far from easy thus far. But he expects to make his mark as a second-year player.

Philadelphia Sixers guard Jaden Springer during a scrimmage game at the Chase Field House in Wilmington, Del., on Oct. 9, 2021.Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer

Published July 6, 2022, 5:00 a.m. ET

SALT LAKE CITY — With all of the 76ers’ offseason acquisitions, it is easy to overlook what Jaden Springer has to offer this season.

But the second-year combo guard wants to make himself hard to ignore after this summer. He will be one of the Sixers’ headliners for this week’s Salt Lake City Summer League and the NBA 2K23 Summer League in Vegas to follow.

Springer began the summer with a 15-point effort in the Sixers’ 103-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in Tuesday night’s SLC action at the Vivint Arena.

After missing his four first-half shot attempts, Springer scored 12 points after intermission on 4-for-8 shooting. And his athletic block with 19.8 seconds left was the highlight of the game. He blocked Xavier Tillman’s driving layup while leaping midair underneath the basket. After grabbing the rebound, Springer alertly remained inbounds on the baseline.

But Springer’s journey in the NBA has been far from an easy path. With some projections pegging him as a mid- to-late first-round pick, he left the University of Tennessee for the 2021 draft after a successful freshman campaign.

The Sixers ended up selecting him 28th. As a team expected to contend for the 2022 NBA title, Philly wasn’t a place where a late first-round draft pick was going to make an impact.

So Springer, who doesn’t turn 20 until Sept. 25, had a front-row seat on the bench he only left twice. The 6-foot-4, 204-pounder scored two points on his lone shot attempt to go with two rebounds, two blocks, and one turnover in a total of six minutes in his two NBA appearances.

He did play in 19 regular-season games with the Sixers’ NBA G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, averaging 14.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.8 turnovers.

While that’s nice, the Charlotte, N.C., native left Tennessee early to play in the NBA — not the G League. So this past season was definitely a learning experience for him.

“The biggest thing I learned is like staying consistent with myself,” he said. “Like there’s going to be ups and down, but you always have to stay levelheaded. Everything is not going to go your way off rip.

“This league, you see different players have different stories. So you have to stay within yourself and just keep working.”

But this is the first time that Springer has had to deal with being an afterthought.

As a high school junior, he helped IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., win the national championship. He ended his prep career as a McDonald’s All American and the 16th-ranked player in the Class of 2020, according to both Rivals.com and 247Sports.

With his pedigree, it’s not surprising the Sixers selected the young talent. The hope is that he can become a special player down the road.

The Memphis Grizzlies were prepared to select him 17th overall, according to a source, before moving up to the 10th spot and choosing Ziaire Williams, thanks to a blockbuster trade with the New Orleans Pelicans. In Memphis, Springer might have had a more immediate path to the team’s rotation.

“This was definitely the first [time I didn’t play],” Springer said. “But at Tennessee in the beginning of the season, I felt like some adversity hit, too. I had to get through that. So I feel like that kind of helped me out a little bit. I didn’t start off starting at Tennessee.”

Springer wasn’t inserted into the Vols’ starting lineup until the 10th game of the season.

Springer’s inactivity this past season did not impact his work ethic.

As part of his effort to stay consistent, Springer said he works out in the gym as much as possible. He also feeds off the fact that his trainers and teammates believe in him and want to push him.

“So I just keep playing with those guys and watching film,” he said. “I feel like that’s the only thing you can do.”

With that work serving as a strong foundation, Springer is excited to display his skill set during summer leagues and the upcoming season. He’s hopeful to have a bigger role and work his way into the starting lineup.

“But that’s not going to be given to me,” he said. “So I know I’m going to have to go out there and keep working like I’ve been doing.”

Right now, his biggest impact would come on defense. So that’s where he wants to start, and expand his game from there. Shooting 24.1% from three in the G League, he knows he’ll have to improve in that area.

“I want to be able to show that I can complement the guys [like] Joel [Embiid] and James Harden,” he said. “I want to be able to show that. So that’s the biggest things.”